Sounds of the Southtowns: Taking it live at Woodlawn Beach

Thursday July 17, 2014 | By:Alicia Greco, The Sun staff reporter |

Inspired by this very article series, Abbey Styles, Southtowns hair stylist by day and city DJ by night, has orchestrated with others to curate and present a Sounds of the Southtowns event, which will showcase talent has local roots.

DJs will perform from 6-11 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 1 at the Woodlawn Beach Tiki Bar, located at 3580 Lakeshore Road in Blasdell. The lineup will include DJ Devious, Abstyles, Just Dubbs and will have affiliated support by collective NuSkool Pirates.

“I would like to bring house music more to the Southtowns, maybe do it at Woodlawn Beach, or something like that. Do something different. Where is there house music around here: Nowhere,” Styles said, during an interview with The Sun for her Sounds of the Southtowns spotlight profile in the July 10 issue.

“The artists I picked to be involved in this with me are two of the original guys I used to do nights with years ago,” said Styles.

“DJ Devious and I used to work together with Collective Consciousness doing events at Faso’s in Lackawanna,” which is where she met Chris Warner who plays under the moniker Just Dubbs. “We then moved to the city and would do events/nights at Off the Wall on Elmwood Avenue.”

Warner, a native and resident of Hamburg, has previously spoke to The Sun for his Sounds of the Southtowns spotlight, about that subculture and its place locally versus the abundance in the city.

“There’s so many people that electronic music is geared to. Is it for everyone: yeah. Is it catered to a certain group of people: yes, a certain age group. Are there more people in the city that are just there than there are in Hamburg/Boston: absolutely.”

From 2007-2011, Warner threw a party at his house called “Mix in the Sticks.” The lack of scene outside of city limits is “maybe not having a location? Somewhere where we can call our own and do it. There might be a crowd out here [in the Southtowns] that we don’t even know about, that we haven’t even touched ... That would be awesome.”

Blasdell resident Josh Santoro, who performs as DJ Devious, grew up on the east side of Buffalo until he moved to Florida at 13 years old. He then went on to start performing in Tampa, Fla. in the mid-1990s.

Since moving back to the area, he began throwing events and getting booked along the East Coast.

“Some of the best talent that Western New York has comes from the Southtowns,” Santoro said.

Styles, who is spearheading the entire event said that she “basically wants to accomplish the introduction of the underground digitally-made music scene and to open the eyes and ears up to the Southtown-ers.”

With similar fashion to the purpose of the Sounds of the Southtowns column, the group collectively said they are striving to expose something that they think is significant to the area.

“I am driven [to do this] because I want to show to people that this music isn’t just for raves and downtown,” Styles said. “That this is music that you can drive to, clean to, dance to and even relax to.”

In regard to the music, Warner said, “It’s everywhere, it’s emotion based. It can make a mood better. It can bring people together.

“We hope to connect to people in the Southtowns; new people that may not have an opportunity to see this and feel this.”

Santoro said he hopes this event will “educate the younger generation of “EDM” [Electronic Dance Music] enthusiasts on what real underground EDM sounds like. Not that played-out generic nonsense you see on MTV or hear on the radio.”

Attendees will be able to tune in and experience the sounds of trip-hop and house from Abstyles; house and tech-house from Just Dubbs; and house and breakbeats from DJ Devious. The Sounds of the Southtowns event will not be a night out like seeing a DJ on downtown Chippewa Street. This will be the type of party where music will be showcased as art.

Woodlawn Beach was recently home to a similar style event hosted by MNM Presents during Labor Day weekend, last year. That party showcased DJs that frequent the city’s venues.

“I chose Woodlawn Beach because it has the right atmosphere. It’s a beach, who doesn’t want to go to the beach,” Styles said.

In the future, Styles said “I also have other DJs in mind that will also be on board with this once we get this established and people acclimated.”